Letters to the editor for May 1, 2012

European policies beget European economic stagnation. If this isn’t obvious to you by now, it’s only because you aren’t paying attention.

Leftist ideology, the center of European governing philosophy and the Obama economic world view, requires that capital be punished and labor rewarded. The argument leftists make is that they want to create good paying jobs with good benefits for average people and also enforce “fairness.”

A good argument, as far as it goes, with one major problem: leftist policies create the opposite of what they say they intend. Non-market wages and benefits for public sector workers burden the private economy. They reward the wrong behaviors--sloth and entitlement, rather than productivity. They ignore market realities in favor of ideological dreams.

This is the type of economy you get when you elect economically illiterate leftist ideologues. No growth; no job creation; no wealth creation; higher government transfer payments; lower collections to pay for them; high debt (as long as the market will bear it).

Anyone who thinks this is a coincidence is deluding himself. It’s the result of Obama’s “leadership” and policies.

Next: a plunge over a cliff, a la Greece. Watch out. Four more years of Obama, and it’s coming here, too.

Ray Anderson

Sonora

CPR training needed

To the Editor:

Your recent article about Amy DeFelice underscores the importance of learning cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). For every minute that CPR is delayed, a person’s survivability rate drops by ten percent, so even if help has been called and is on the way, it’s crucial to begin resuscitation efforts immediately.

The American Red Cross strongly recommends that all families include CPR training as part of their emergency-planning preparations. A schedule of local CPR classes can be found online at www.redcrosscrc.org.

Another life-saving step that community members can take is to donate blood. Community blood banks rely on regular donations to ensure that there is always an adequate supply on hand. As part of this year’s National Preparedness Month activities, Red Cross and the Blood Bank of Sonora will be conducting a blood drive and offering free hands-only CPR training to the community on Saturday, Sept. 15.

We hope that Mother Lode residents will take advantage of this free training, or better yet, will enroll in a full-length CPR class. It’s one of those things that you think you’ll never use, but will be so glad to know if someone dear to you needs helps.

Carole Mutzner

American Red Cross

Sonora

Father Mike Kelly

To the Editor:

Our beloved Father Mike Kelly has been a friend and spiritual leader since he was assigned to Our Lady of Fatima parish many years ago.

Our blended family has experienced our sons as alter boys, our children as soccer players, weddings for our children and baptisms of our children’s children, and the burial of our spouses’. Father Kelly has officiated on all the above with love and true friendship.

He continues to keep in touch with birthday greetings for each and everyone of us.

We do not accept the findings of the court of “Law”.

The Lord will deal with this.

Mike Kelly will always be in our hearts and welcome in our home. He will always be Father Kelly to us.